Moving to La Jolla

Well, not me. My niece moved to La Jolla late August for her grad studies, and work. She says that she has always wanted to live in San Diego. She said the same thing about Kauai/Hawaii when she moved there a few years back for work, but got homesick, and moved back to L.A. So, not sure for how long her San Diego fever will last, but for now, she is enjoying it. And I'll be visiting La Jolla more often, because I always have an amazing time with her, and with my younger niece as well except that she is up at Berkley.  

We had sushi at Shiku for breakfast because that's what Ellie wanted. Then she wanted to hangout by the beach. We started at Coast Walk Trail on an excruciating hot day with a ton of visitors, and a big line to see Sunny Jim's Sea Cave. She couldn't believe that all those people were willing to wait more than 30 minutes to see a grotto for a fee. She said that she has seen many grottos in the past, and they were free to visit minus the crowd.

I was there on a Sunday. During the week, it's quieter. We still had a nice time. The crowd were patient, sociable, and friendly.

After moving about for some time, the high temperatures, and humidity started to wear us down, and so, we ended up back at her apartment. Ellie is a great artist. I don't know, maybe I'm bias, and a proud aunt. She started taking art classes at the age of four. She paints everything, including her wall decors, trainers, and skates.

There is a whole story about the skateboard in the photo. When Ellie finished her undergrad at NYU, she was overwhelmed by the amount of packing she had to do, and decided to throw out her skateboard. I offered to take it with me to L.A. So, I carried it through JFK with people staring at me. The airline stewardess rolled her eyes when she saw me with it. At LAX, a teenager asked me if the board was mine. I told him that it belonged to my niece. We both had a good laugh about it.

She uses a labor-intensive special method to do her paintings. A large piece takes her at least six months to finish.

We were both really tired, not because we did a lot, but because it was so darn hot outside. I crashed on her sofa, and took a short nap. She relaxed on the carpet. Soon, we both realized that if we don't get up, and get some coffee, we'll fall into a deep coma. Before leaving though, I had to find out the story behind her painted guitar.

Philz Coffee. My first time there. She had the Mojito, and I, the Tiramisu which was definitely decadent, and I highly recommend it.

We ran a bunch of errands after our mandatory dose of caffeine. I tried to find her a coffee table as a housewarming gift. No luck. Will keep looking. But no visit is complete without a stop at a bookstore. We went into B&N, and I bought a book from one of my favorite authors, Eckhart Tolle. OMG, I have so many unread books at my house. I need to seriously stop shopping, and read what I have in stock before getting something new.

 

Time for dinner. We weren't that hungry, but the day was coming to an end. Ellie had to get ready for her first day of meeting her instructors and classmates, and I had to head back home. We went to Puesto La Jolla. It has a pretty front patio, but we opted for air-conditioning.

The classic guacamole, summer enchilada, and passion fruit margarita mocktail were excellent. We ended up taking food home, and having it for dinner the next day.

 

An Escape To La Jolla

Left L.A for La Jolla with my friend. We had no idea what traffic was going to be like. It took us about three hours. L.A is so unpredictable. But I just wanted to go somewhere for half a day. 

As I said before in another post, there are many place where you can grab brunch/lunch such as Sugar and Scribe for pancakes and eggs, or Piazza 1909 for salad and pizza. 

We walked around a bit, and went inside the Valencia hotel. The staff there is so nice. The beautiful fresh flowers above decorate their lobby.

This fountain was so pretty that I had to take a shot.

There are a bunch of shops in this passage, but most were closed by the time we got there. La Dolce Vida restaurant looked interesting. We saw one or two coffee shops that were open till midnight which surprised us. We thought that people in La Jolla went to bed early. Also, the area has so much variety from Japanese food, to Italian, to sea food, to Indian.

We wanted to go walking by the water, but it was starting to get dark. We found Coast Walk Trail and climbed for a bit.

The entire area is so lovely, and the water looks so clean.

There is a restaurant called Eddie Vic with an entrance from Prospect Street (I think). As you can see it has great views. We were debating as to what kind of food it served. It turned out that we were both wrong. It's a seafood and steak place, not Italian, and not Chinese 😄 After hanging around the area, we walked down and checked out the boutique hotels, quaint eateries and a small market. Then we climbed up, and headed back because it was getting late. We got back to L.A around midnight. It was a relaxing getaway. That's what I like about L.A. It offers so many places nearby and makes you feel like you're on a mini getaway.

 

La Jolla

After all that rain, I needed fresh air, sunshine and some fun. So, I headed out to San Diego. 

I used to spend many relaxing weekends at La Jolla when my friend and her husband lived there before she moved to Palos Verdes. La Jolla has changed a lot. It went from being a sleepy neighborhood to a happening one. It's packed with unique boutiques, art galleries, restaurants, and whatnot.

You can grab fish and chips at Dukes, or healthy/vegan food at Parakeet Café, and then go for a stroll by the water or check out the shops. 

I decided to get a palm reading for the fun of it. I honestly didn't think there would be several people waiting. I guess this is a popular place. It's on Prospect Avenue. The psychic's name was Cathia. 

I'm a difficult person to figure out. So, Psychics either guess and get most of it wrong or they have to ask me a bunch of questions about my family and past relationships in order to guess better. 

To my surprise though, Cathia got a few things right such as telling me that about ten years ago or so I lost someone which had a great impact on me, and changed me into a different person. I have no idea how she knew that. The person I lost was my mom, and I did become a different person. 

I went into this art gallery. The local artist, Ian Ely, has a lot of incredible pieces of nature. They were out of my budget, but Kristina, the sales rep, also offered prints of the work, and explained how the different versions of the same photograph were set up. She took me into a tiny room, and showed me the effect of different light settings as it dimmed slowly and changed the look of the photograph.

This is a nice hotel. I went in to explore. There was an event going on with people dressed up, drinking, and socializing. There is a restaurant/bar area. The views are spectacular, and the staff are friendly. 

Whether you're visiting L.A or live in the area, I highly recommend coming down to La Jolla. At first glance, parking seems to be difficult to find, but if you are patient, you will find a space. There are also a bunch of parking lots. And when you finally get there, do take your time to take in all that it has to offer, and spend an entire day there. I wish I had.